Keeping It On The Down Low

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Keeping It On The Down Low

• Helpful information on how to keep your personal
  information out of the hands of others.
• By Jen Morse, Kim Lindgren, Tim Blanchard, Derek
  Johnson

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What Personal Information is Being Gathered Over
the Web?

• General things you are interested in.
• What you are specifically looking for online.
• Where you frequent online.
• History of things you have personally searched in
  the past.
• The types of products you purchase or observe.
• Passwords through phishing.

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How personal information is being gathered?

• Cookies, clicking on ads, posting on blogs,
  entering contests, registering on certain sites,
  creating multiple accounts, etc.
• Trickery. Phishing is a huge industry on the web,
  con-men regularly use this tactic to obtain
  sensitive personal and banking information from
  unsuspecting victims.
• Spam/pop-ups. Certain ads that pop-up and spam
  emails are created with the intent to target
  peoples information, identity, and passwords.

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How could this information personally identify
you?

• All the searches that you complete are actually
  compiled in your computer and stored.
• If you use your screen name in a chat room, other
  users can contact you through AIM or email after
  you have left the chat room.
• If you happen to have a Facebook or possibly
  Myspace account that not private, and Google
  yourself, you may be surprised to find your page
  pop up in the search.
• Advertisers use pop-up ads to gear certain
  pop-ups to users with certain characteristics.
  The more adds you click on of one type, the more
  directly related pop-ups you are going to get.

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Personal Guidelines to Keep You Safe.

• NEVER give your password out to anyone, change
  your password on a regular basis, and DO NOT use
  the same password for all your accounts.
• Be EXTREMELY careful about who you give out vital
  information to, i.e.- social security number,
  credit card numbers, etc.
• If an offer is too good to be true, it probably
  is.
• Consumer protection laws and credit rights DO
  apply to transactions online.
• Clear your history and cookies as much as
  possible, so other users cannot view where you
  have been and searched.
• ALWAYS use anti-virus, anti-spyware, or firewalls
  to help protect your information.

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Personal Guidelines to Keep You Safe (continued)

• DO NOT put anything in an email that you wouldnt
  mind becoming public. Emails are not completely
  private.
• ALWAYS close out of pop-up ads. Once you click on
  one, hundreds more will follow.
• Make all personal websites private (Facebook,
  Myspace)
• If someone you do not know contacts you, block
  them.
• ALWAYS try and locate a websites privacy policy.
  
• Use anonymous settings in chat rooms and
  discussion boards.
• BE AWARE of cookies and what is stored in your
  computer.
• Have MORE THAN ONE email address.

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Advances in Government and Technology

• In 2002, the senate passed the Online Personal
  Privacy Act, which stated that any healthcare
  organizations needed to have full permission from
  their clients before taking any personal
  information, and this also required internet
  service providers to stick to the same level of
  permission.
• Advanced Privacy Protection software is being
  pushed for implementation in the future, which
  will ideally keep personal information from
  outside sources.

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Bibliography

• http//www.cdt.org/legislation/107th/privacy/
• http//www.truste.org/consumers/consumer
  tips.php/
• http//www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/sitesee
  .shtm

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THE END!!